Pondering

Well I only have about 5 days left here and I figured a new blog entry was in need. So much to say….

Okay, I’ll start with something that happened to me today. I was walking back to the Medina (the dorms) in broad daylight while wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a long sleeved sweater over my t-shirt. I was minding my own business when all of a sudden a man in his late thirties or forties wearing a jalabiyya approached me and said, “Izayyik, ya kouskous?” Which basically translates to, “How are you doing, you cunt?” Now I’ve actually had worse things yelled at me in the street here before in English, such as sexually explicit acts, but the difference is that this time it was in Arabic. I like to give the men the benefit of the doubt when they say profanities to me in English; I assume that they just don’t know what they’re saying or the level of disrespect it shows me. But this time I was just really infuriated that this middle-aged man, who should have known better, and who would NEVER even whisper a word like that around any of his female relatives (curse words are extremely disrespectful here; Egyptian boys have a totally different way of speaking amongst themselves and would never say some of the things that they say to other boys in private when a girl that they respect is present. In fact, the only reason that I knew what this word meant was because we actually spent one of our Egyptian colloquial classes learning the different curse words and what was appropriate to say to females and not) said it so blatantly to me, probably because he was under the impression that I wouldn’t understand him. I was particularly annoyed because I try so hard to be respectful of the culture here; like I said, I was wearing a long-sleeved sweater and jeans in 90 degree weather in order to be appropriately dressed! Anyway, I totally stopped moving after he said that to me, and debated whether I should say something back. What I really wanted to do was to go off on a feminist rant. But (1) I didn’t have the vocabulary for that and (2) I don’t think it would have done any good. It probably would have just antagonized him. So I didn’t do anything. Which is the part that really sucks. Sometimes I just want to…..I don’t even know what I want to do. MAKE THEM UNDERSTAND. KNOCK THEIR HEADS AGAINST THE WALL. TEACH THEM ABOUT RESPECTING OTHERS. Arrrrrrrrrrrrg.

Another thing that I wanted to mention here was a recent discussion that I had about most Egyptians views on Jews. We’ve talked about it several times in my Political Islam and the Society class, and it came up again the other day when I was watching a movie with one of my Egyptian friends. We were watching “Hassan wa Murkus,” which is a movie about an Egyptian Christian and an Egyptian Muslim who fall in love. The movie ended really optimistically with both the families joining hands and walking together in the midst of a huge protest between the Christians and the Egyptians, so I couldn’t help but feel proud of the Egyptian cinema for at least making a statement about unity. But then I thought back to the movie about Israel I saw here a few months back, so I asked Eman Khader, basically the most Westernized of our Egyptian dormmates, if she thought a movie like that could be made about Jews, and we both promptly responded, “No, not now.” The thing is, most Egyptians don’t separate between Jews and Israelis. They see anyone who is Jewish as a contributor to the Nakba (the catastrophe of 1948 when Palestinians were forced to flee Israel), and the continued killing of the Palestinian women and children that they see shown on the news each day. It doesn’t help that there are no Jews here to show them an alternative on which to judge the religion (there are approximately 6 Jews in all of Alexandria). The education system also just perpetuates these generalizations/ stereotypes. In all the public schools, students are required to take a class in religion, but by religion I mean their particular religion. This means that the minority of Christians are sent off to be in a class by themselves to learn about Christianity, while the Muslims learn about Islam. And no one learns about Judaism (or any other religion for that matter, since the other religions aren’t even acknowledged as true religions). My politics class basically decided that this is an extremely counter-productive system. First of all, by dividing the Muslims and Christians into different classes, it teaches the Christians from a young age that they are a minority and further divides Egyptian society. Secondly, the children never learn about cultures different from their own. Or more importantly, they don’t learn the fact that it’s a mistake to judge an entire society or culture based on what they see in one particular instance, or in a particular group of people. I guess I can just draw this back to my experience this afternoon with the man on the street. He most likely saw me as “the typical foreigner without any morals.” It just drives me nuts that there’s no nuance. People on the street see you, and instantly jump to conclusions about your upbringing, background, morals, etc. There’s just so much “black and white” here.

On a different note, I would also like to mention the fact that many Egyptians criticize Western women for their obsession with beauty and the need to always follow what is “in fashion.” Well, I actually see the same thing here, just in a different way. Just like there’s a societal pressure in the West to wear what’s in fashion, there’s a societal pressure here to wear what is thought to be Islamic clothing (whether or not it’s truly commanded by Islam is up for debate). I am absolutely certain that all of the women who claim to wear the hijab for religious reasons are influenced at least somewhat by the societal pressures and expectation to wear one as well. These women aren’t living in a vacuum. There’s no way of separating them from the societal pressures of veiling.

Wow, this is getting to be somewhat of a rant. I guess it’s time to move onto something more positive… Well, I just spent two days in Marsa Matrouh which is a beach town in Egypt. And let me just say that it was absolutely GOREGOUS. I had actually been there this past summer, but that was during tourist season (April is still considered winter here). First, we went to Aguiba which was this really cool beach with a bunch of caves and tide pools to explore. Then, we relocated to another beach about fifteen minutes away, and we were the only people there! It was amazing. I have never seen water that blue or clear before, or sand that white or clean. I firmly stand by the statement that Marsa Matrouh in non-tourist season is Egypt’s best-kept secret. I have never been to the Caribbean, so I cannot say that it was better than the Caribbean, but I’m pretty sure that it is…

Alright, time to finish my Amiyya video project.

Hit and Run

The problem (or perhaps the advantage) to living in a place like Egypt and constantly being bombarded with new experiences and lessons is that I always have something that I want to blog about, but rarely have the time to do so. Let me try to remember what I wanted to say...

As far as continuation of the last blog entry, Habiba and I talked the next day, and I explained that I had just been extremely frightened for her, and that all of us responded to her in different ways but for the same reason- because we cared. She wasn't mad at me at all. In fact, she kept apologizing. Which also slightly unnerved me because I don't think that a panic attack is something that needs to be apologized for. To me, mental and physical illnesses are pretty much one in the same, and no one should ever feel guilty for suffering from either one. Anyway, at our bi-weekly meeting, the girls met separately and we spent roughly 3 hours discussing the topic. We talked about cultural relativism, and what role the program directors had in intervening in the life of their Egyptian participants (after all, our Egyptian dormmates are inextricably connected to us Americans. If something had happened to Habiba due to my inaction, I would never be able to forgive myself). We talked about emergency action plans, and our different standards of needing medical attention. And we agreed to talk to the Egyptian girls about it separately, although that hasn't happened yet.

Right after the meeting, I headed off to Cairo for my first time this semester. I had already visited the pyramids, the sphinx, etc when I was here over the summer, so the first day that we were there we explored Islamic Cairo: the Citadel, al-Azhar, Ibn Tulun Mosque (we saw a gorgeous view of Cairo from the top of the minaret that we climbed), and Khan al Khalili (huge open air market). I also met up with a friend of a fellow synagogue member who took us on a personal tour of Shar Hashamaim Synagogue and talked to us about what it is like being Jewish in Egypt. She showed us her identification card, and it was the first time that I saw "Jewish" written under the space indicated for religion (every Egyptian must have an identification card, and MUST specify their religion. And by the word "religion" I mean one of the 3 monotheistic religions: Islam, Christianity, or Judaism. Nothing else is accepted, although there are currently political movements working to accept other religions or the word "Other."), which was really interesting.

The next day, in the morning two friends and I decided that we wanted to visit the camel market about half an hour outside of Cairo. We flagged down a cab driver to take us there, and first there was some sort of misunderstanding because we told him we wanted "souq al jamal" which means "camel market" but supposedly he heard "jebel" which means "mountain," so he tried to drop us off on a random mountain (I'm pretty sure that he tried to do this to make the trip longer so that we would pay more).

Anyway, we finally made it to the camel market, and the driver waited for us while we spent about an hour there. First of all, let me say that the camel market is not a place to go for the faint-of-heart or animal lovers. Most of the camels were emaciated, they had one foot tied up like a flamingo so they couldn't run away (which managed to happen anyway), and were continuously beaten by their owners. We also saw several dead camel corpses lying out in the sun on our drive to the market itself. Luckily for me, I had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep the night before, so my emotions were somewhat numb. Watching the people's interactions was very interesting, though. We watched huge crowds of dusty old men gather around and bid over camels (one camel will set you back between $1200 and $2000), spray paint the name of the highest bidder on the side of the camel, and then record the transaction (I didn't see any actual money exchanged. I guess they do that later, or on credit...). While all of this was going on, we saw rogue camels running away from their owners, 4 or 5 camels packed into the back of jeeps to be driven home, boys from practically the age of 4 to grown men beating camels to force them into pens or the back of trucks, etc. We also spent some time talking to some of the camel vendors. Most of them were from Sudan or Cairo, and the camels were sold either to butchers or to work in the tourist industry. They were all extremely friendly (probably surprised that we spoke Arabic), and I didn't feel extremely uncomfortable for being a woman like I had expected I would. Mike befriended several of them, and had one seller convinced that he was going to buy a camel because he was "gawaan owee" (very hungry...).

The most interesting part of the trip, however, and a cultural experience in itself was the journey back to Cairo. It was relatively uneventful until.....we got hit by a horse. Yes, that is correct. First let me explain that in Egypt, while there are lanes painted on the ground, no one uses them. This means that there is also usually nothing separating incoming from ongoing traffic. Cars also sometimes share the road with horse and buggies. And finally, Egyptians are the most impatient people I have ever seen when it comes to driving. They weave in and out (remember, no one abides by the lanes rule) of traffic, cut each other off, stop short, and always get into accidents. I really cannot describe Egyptian "zahama" (traffic) to do it justice...you just have to see it to believe it. Anyway, what happened was we were going in one direction and a jeep going in another direction cut us off. Our taxi driver swerved a little bit to the side of the road where there was a horse and buggy, the horse's rider let go of the reins, and the horse rammed into the side of our car. I was actually asleep at this point, and I just remember waking up to a huge crash, seeing the front window totally black, and thinking that there was some kind of protest going on and that people were hitting the car.

Well, the horse did some major damage to the car, including knocking off the right side mirror, which of course made our driver extremely angry. So he got out of the car to go talk to the horse's rider and demand some sort of payment (I'm absolutely positive that neither of them had insurance, and besides, no one really resorts to legal action here- they just kind of settle things themselves). And at this point, the horse and buggy takes off! Yes, I was part of a horse and buggy "hit and run." So our driver got back in the car, and two random Egyptians who claimed to know the buggy driver got in as well to try to help us. Thus ensued a car chase in which our driver must have destroyed his car's alignment because of the high speed that we were driving on bumpy unpaved roads, through the small town, down back roads and tight alleys, stopping every so often to ask a townsperson if they had seen a horse and buggy race by.

Anyway, it turned out that in a car chase between a taxi and a horse and buggy, the horse and buggy won. Funny for us, but obviously not so funny for our driver. So next, the two random Egyptians in the car with us told us they knew the father of the buggy driver. So they took us to him, and my friends and I sat in the car while our driver spent 45 minutes arguing with the father about payment. In the process, the two random Egyptians brought us tea, and I locked my car door after the way that one of them was looking at me and creepily mouthing words to me through the window. At one point, "buggy driver's father" tried to just give our driver a new mirror instead of payment. When our driver didn't accept (who would? It wasn't just the mirror...there were wires sticking out of the side of the car), buggy driver's father just tried to kiss our driver on the cheek and hug him, like that would make him accept, yet our driver was clearly still furious. Anyway, our driver finally took some money and then gave up; he obviously knew that horse and buggy driver and his father didn't have enough money to pay for the damage anyway.

So approximately 4 hours after we set out (mind you, we only spent about an hour at the camel market), we finally got back to Cairo. And our taxi driver was infuriated when we only offered to pay double what we had originally offered (no meters in Egyptian taxis means you have to bargain for how much you're going to pay). So we just handed him the money and walked away. All I can say is that I never know what to expect here...

We spent the rest of the day exploring Coptic Cairo. We first went to Egypt's oldest synagogue, Ben Ezra synagogue, as well as the first mosque built in Egypt, the Mosque of Amr Ibn Al As. Clara, Gigi, and I also had rocks thrown at us by "shabaab" (teenage boys) outside the mosque. Talk about contradictions....Next we toured various Coptic Churches. I really enjoyed exploring Coptic Cairo, first of all just because of the history. I felt like I was back in Jerusalem again. Also, it was symbolically important for me to see the juxtaposition of churches, mosques, and synagogues. If only we could go back to that co-existence...

After exploring Coptic Cairo, we crashed a Four Seasons Hotel (well not really...we just pretended to be guests so that we could use the free bathroom, and of course the employees didn't doubt us because we looked like foreigners. At least sometimes that pays off, because the stalls actually had toilet paper! And not one, but TWO rolls. Bliss.). And then we took a half hour felucca (small boat) ride on the Nile to see the sunset. We had fun talking to our felucca owner, Abdullah, who was 62 years old and had been manning feluccas as his primary occupation for the past 50 years.

After the felucca ride, we made our way to Lucille's Restaurant to have...American food!!! I had grilled cheese and a baked potato, and let me tell you it was heavenly.

All right, that's enough for now. Of course I have more to write, but I have to head off because I bought tickets to see a show in the Library of Alexandria's Planetarium.